Strategy-Based Fact Drills

 Do you ever feel like you teach a strategy for basic facts, but then don't give the students enough time to practice the strategy in isolation before having them apply it in class?  I know I do.  I feel like I quickly move on to the next strategy without giving the students enough time to master the one that was just taught.  I have yet to find a perfect solution to teaching basic facts in my classroom.  I feel like my students knew their facts the best when I used the Saxon Math program, but that is no longer an option for me since our school has adopted a different program.  I loved how Saxon provided practice with a given fact strategy before moving on.  So, I created strategy-based fact drills that will give my students plenty of practice with the strategies I'm introducing.   

 

I plan on using this only as a supplement to my current fact program.  I am using Rocket Math in my classroom and have been happy with it.  Still, I think my students would be doing much better if more time was spent on practicing fact strategies.  I still see SO MANY fingers out and my students are relying almost completely on "Counting On" and "Counting Back".  I plan to spend the first 10 minutes of my math block on fact practice every day.  On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we will do Rocket Math.  (I only do this three times per week since it takes awhile to go through each student's Rocket Folder.  But, don't let this scare you from trying it out.  If you have a good system down, you can check over folders for the entire class in 15 minutes.)  Tuesday and Thursday's fact practice will consist of modeling/practicing a fact strategy.  Depending on the difficulty of the strategy, we may do one or two strategies a week. 

Here are the strategies I've included drills for in my packet:

Each strategy includes two different fact drills (25 problems) and answer keys.  The strategies are labeled at the top of each page with a short reminder of how to use it. Each drill is also labeled as A or B. These would be great to copy back-to-back (A/B) so students could complete side A at school and side B at home. Also, the answer keys make this conducive to independent work in centers.

Click any of the images above to check it out on TpT or click HERE.  :)

*Free* Book Shopper Passes

I made these Book Shopper passes to help manage behavior in my classroom library.  As a part of my students' morning work, they "shop" for books to keep in their book box to read during Daily 5.  (They are not allowed to look for books DURING centers.)  They must have five good fit books in their box and may switch books out once they've written a Reader's Response Journal on them.  Inevitably, it ends up pretty crowded in the library.  Last year, I tried making  a schedule so that each student had a particular day of the week they could "shop" on, but it didn't work out very well.  SO, instead, I'm going to set 4-5 of these passes out in a bin in my library so there won't be more than five students in the library at a time.    Students must have a pass to shop and will replace it when they're finished.  Students must move on to the next step of their morning work if all of the passes are taken and may book shop once a pass has been returned.   

If you could use these, it's a free download.  Help yourself!  :)

New Teacher Binder Style: Foil and Chalk

I've created a new version of my All-in-One Simple Style Teacher Binder {Free Yearly Updates}!  With this set I used some beautiful silver foil papers from Erin Bradley and chalk frames.  Check it out below.  :)

 

Not loving this color scheme?  Check out my other sets below!  :)